Links

Posts Tagged ‘22 Long Rifle’

From the suggestion box! Fellow Ultimate Reloader reader John from New Baltimore, MI writes:

.22LR – it looks like gold, and some are hoarding it as if it were! Image copyright 2014 Ultimate Reloader

I start to wonder about people who are hoarding. Is a mindset in America today or has it been here since the GREAT DEPRESSION? Did we learn through our parents and Grand parents? You see on TV like American pickers, and I think there is a show call Hoarders it I am not mistaken. I did see someone sell about 30,000 round 22lr at Gun-broker.com. I didn’t see how much it when for. I think it was over 10 grand. I thought how much did that person really have on hand. I will to bet over 100,000 rounds just in 22lr. So finally, my question to you and maybe a great POLL question. When do think to much is to much. When do you think a survival exceeds and start to become a hoarder.

I love the show American Pickers, and my .22LR stock is down to the bare minimum, so this email got my attention! So here’s the poll, how much .22LR is too much? Want to explain your answer? Please leave a comment!

The 308 Winchester cartridge is one of the most popular, flexible, and accurate rifle cartridges in existence. Whether it be for big game hunting, military sniping, competition shooting, or just having fun, the 308 Winchester is well suited and very capable for these applications. The fact that this cartridge is so popular means that brass is readily available, as are bullets and reloading equipment. For long-range shooting, this cartridge is a great choice, and the fact that the AR platform was originally designed around this cartridge (AR-10) is one of the reasons I wanted to take on this project!

The 308 Winchester is similar to the 30-06 Springfield cartridge, but there is one key difference- the 30-06 is for long-action bolt action rifles, where the 308 Winchester is a short-action cartridge. The 308 Winchester is less powerful, but is in the same ballpark in terms of ballistics and performance for big-game hunting. For competition shooting, they perform very similarly, but competition shooters have pretty much migrated to the 308 Winchester cartridge when given the choice between the two. (that’s a whole different subject).

What’s interesting about the cartridge dimensions is that the case rim is similar enough to other popular rifle/pistol cartridges that you can actually use the same shellplate/shellholder for 308 Winchester, 30-06 Springfield, 45 ACP, and many other cartridges in most cases.

Here’s what Hornady lists for their #1 shellplate for the Lock-N-Load AP: (note that the #45 shellplate was fine tuned for 45 ACP)

5.6x57mm

22-250 Rem

22-250 Rem Ackley Imp 40°

240 Wby Mag

243 Win

6mm International

6mm-284

3mm Rem BR

250 Savage

25-06 Rem

257 Roberts

25-284 Win

260 Rem

6.5 Rem Mag

6.5mm-06 A-Square

6.5x57mm Mauser

6.5mm-284 Norma

6.5 Creedmoor

270 Win

7x57mm Mauser

7mm-08 Rem

7mm Rem BR

7x64mm Brenneke

280 Rem Ackly Imp 40°

284 Win

300 Savage

308 Win

30-06 Spfld

30 TC

338 Federal

7.7mm Japanese

7.92x33mm Kurz Mauser

8x57mm Mauser

8mm-06 Spfld

338-06 Spfld

35 Whelen

358 Win

9.3x57mm Mauser

9.3x62mm Mauser

400 Cor-Bon

44 Auto Mag

458 Socom

450 Bushmaster

Pretty impressive interoperability! This means that you can buy one shellplate, and use it for many different cartridges for reloading without having to swap out the shellplate and priming system (something to think about when considering how to equip your gun safe).

Let’s take a look at the dimensions and specifics for the 308 Winchester cartridge:

308 Winchester Cartridge Specifications - Image by Francis Finch

OK, looking at a chart is one thing. Let’s now line up some popular rifle cartridges from the mighty 50 BMG down to the thrifty but prolific 22 Long Rifle. This will give you a better idea of just how the 308 Winchester compares to other rifle cartridges from a more “qualitative” perspective.

I’ll have to say, I really like the 308 Winchester cartridge. Since it uses .308″ diameter bullets that means I can find exactly what I want in terms of weight, profile, quality, and I also know I’ll get a good price. I like the fact that I can use the same rifle to shoot from the bench, and to also hunt deer with. What’s not to like about 308 Winchester? I’m not sure…

It’s also worth noting here that the military has adopted the 308 Winchester cartridge (7.62×51) – and the dimensions are not exactly the same. The good news is that SAAMI has designated the two cartridges as “interoperable”. So unlike the .223 Remington -vs- 5.56 NATO issue (not compatible), you don’t need to have the same worries with 308 Winchester and 7.62×51 brass/ammunition. What you do need to do is keep your brass sorted so that you can prep each to spec, and ensure consistency/accuracy.

There’s plenty more we could talk about here, but we need to move on so that we can get to loading!